Free Republic

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Trump administration can enforce a rule denying Title X funds to family planning clinics that promote abortion.In an opinion released Monday and authored by Circuit Judge Sandra Ikuta, the Ninth Circuit vacated multiple injunctions from lower courts against the Protect Life Rule and sent it back to the lower courts for further proceedings “consistent with this opinion.”“Regulations issued in 1988, and upheld by the Supreme Court in 1991, completely prohibited the use of Title X funds in projects where clients received counseling or referrals for abortion as a...

7-Eleven’s plan to demolish one of its east Santa Rosa stores and several surrounding buildings to build a sleek new convenience store and add gas pumps has sparked opposition from activists who oppose new fossil fuel outlets in Sonoma County. Texas-based 7-Eleven aims to replace the existing shop at Highway 12 and Middle Rincon Road with a new 24-hour convenience store and at least six gas pumps, according to an application filed with Santa Rosa planning officials. Designs call for demolishing the store, a martial arts studio and at least one adjacent home, forcing longtime tenants to find another place...

For the last forty years, at least, conservative media and thinkers have lamented the absolutely ridiculous rulings that have come out of the "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Many of those rulings targeted Christians, maliciously removing religious symbols and forcing pro-life crisis pregnancy centers to advertise for abortion clinics. More recently, the 9th Circuit tried to stop Trump's travel ban, a ruling that was slapped down by the Supreme Court (a common occurrence). But the long reign of terror by the fruits and nuts on the California court appears to be finally over, thanks to...

Big Horn Armory's Model 89 Chambers The .500 S&W Magnum For Really Big Game - Ever since the .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum came on the scene in 2003, there have been a bunch of folks trying to figure out how to cram this über-powered revolver cartridge into a rifle – especially a lever-action rifle. It's been an American obsession ever since the cowboy days: A guy "needs" to have a lever-action rifle chambered for his handgun cartridge. Whether that need is real or not can be debated elsewhere, but the perception remains steadfast. Most of the popular revolver cartridges...

A hotel in Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands has been locked down after a visiting Italian doctor tested positive for coronavirus. Hundreds of guests at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace Hotel were initially told to stay in their rooms as medical tests were carried out. The doctor is reportedly from the Lombardy region, where Italian authorities are battling an outbreak. Global cases of the virus have passed 80,000, the vast majority in China. Iran, one of the worst-affected nations outside China, on Tuesday said its deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, had tested positive for the virus. Agence France-Presse quoted a...

The first national poll from CBS/YouGov after the dumpster fire debate showed Warren surging into second place behind noted Fidel Castro fanboy Bernie Sanders, but that one may turn out to be an outlier. We now have a new Morning Consult survey with a significantly larger sample size that shows something closer to the previous status quo. Bernie Sanders is still in the lead with 32 percent and Michael Bloomberg is still somehow in second at 19. Joe Biden is just behind Mike at 18% while both Warren and Mayor Pete are trailing at 11%. So that Survey only...

It’s not exactly clear where Chris Cuomo intended to go with this question in last night’s CNN town hall, but it’s perfectly clear where Bernie Sanders went. The new Democratic frontrunner ardently defended his positive gloss on Fidel Castro’s regime on 60 Minutes, and decided to double down by praising communist China as well. Sanders then claimed that pushback from House Democrats over the last two days was only motivated by their own electoral ambitions.Well, yeah, but not in the way Bernie suggests: CUOMO: Let’s take one more step down the road of the stigma that’s coming from some...

On March 12, 1938, Germany invaded Austria. Recognizing that war with the Third Reich was now probable and anticipating bombing raids on London, Admiral Hugh Sinclair, head of the Government Code and Cipher School (GCCS), set out to find property outside the city where the agency could relocate. Unable to get funding from the government, Sinclair purchased with his own money Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire. This would be the site of the most spectacular cryptographic breakthroughs in history, made possible in part by the engineering of the world’s first programmable electronic digital computer. In September of 1938, Neville Chamberlain returned...

All senators will be briefed at 11:00 AM in classified setting on Coronavirus, per Senate sources. They will hear from officials from a variety of agencies, including HHS, DHS, CDC, NIH and State. It comes as administration preps emergency funding request to deal with outbreak

The Memo: Democratic rivals have seven days to stop Sanders BY NIALL STANAGE - 02/25/20 06:00 AM EST 1,276 Rival candidates have just a week to stop Sen. Bernie Sanders if they hope to prevent the Independent from Vermont from taking the party’s presidential nomination. Sanders is the undisputed front-runner in the race after his thumping victory in Nevada’s caucuses on Saturday. His current trajectory is set to carry him to at least a top-two finish in South Carolina’s primary Saturday. From there, he looks likely to roll through Super Tuesday on March 3, harvesting huge numbers of delegates from...

Geneva: The US is following an egocentric foreign policy that is leading to global arms control agreements being devalued, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday. It is vital "to stop the degradation of international arms control", Lavrov told the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, urging Washington to resume talks on halting nuclear proliferation and banning weapons in space.

This is one trope we’ve been hearing ever since Pete Buttigieg got into the race. Mayor Pete will have trouble gaining support with Black voters because he’s gay. (And trust me… I’ve heard this from Democrats, not just conservatives.) That topic is something of a landmine for obvious reasons, but the fact he really is doing very poorly among African-American primary voters keeps breathing life into the theory. I’ve heard two schools of thought that seek to explain the phenomenon. One holds that Black voters tend to be more religious and hold somewhat conservative views in that regard, and...

Low Hanging Fruit By Samuel W. Mitcham on Feb 24, 2020 Several months ago, I attended a speech given by Paul Gramling, the commander-in-chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, to the Northeast Louisiana Brigade of the SCV at the Lieutenant Elijah H. Ward Camp in Farmerville, Louisiana. In his oration, Mr. Gramling declared that the hoopla about removing the Confederate monuments was not really about the Confederate monuments. “We are just the low-hanging fruit,” he declared. He stressed that the attacks were just part of a neo-Marxist attack upon traditional American values. After I returned home, I contemplated Commander...

Morning "The wrath to come." Matthew 3:7 It is pleasant to pass over a country after a storm has spent itself; to smell the freshness of the herbs after the rain has passed away, and to note the drops while they glisten like purest diamonds in the sunlight. That is the position of a Christian. He is going through a land where the storm has spent itself upon his Saviour's head, and if there be a few drops of sorrow falling, they distil from clouds of mercy, and Jesus cheers him by the assurance that they are not for his...

While it may be true that “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” (Shakespeare) it is also true that socialism by any other name still smells like socialism. As we approach this year’s elections, the purveyors of socialism have tried to rebrand their product by calling it “democratic socialism.” The sales force and marketing department of democratic socialism, the Democratic Party, and the mainstream media, are plying a new fairy tale that democratic socialism is nothing like socialism. No siree, nothing like it, they sing in chorus. The chorus, however, is badly out of tune. Democratic socialism...

BALTIMORE — A Syrian refugee who escaped his war-torn country in 2016 and took a job delivering pizzas in Baltimore to help support his family was gunned down earlier this month on a street less than five minutes from his workplace, authorities said. Khaled Heeba, 31, was fatally shot Feb. 7 in the 1300 block of W. Franklin Street, Baltimore police officials said. They released video last week that they allege shows Heeba’s possible killer in the moments before and after the shooting. The man, described as about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, slim in build and wearing all black,...

So, Bernie wins the Nevada caucuses going away, featuring young people and Hispanics. Oh dear. And we thought Hispanics were sensible moderates. So they are, writes Steve Sailer, but they tend to be kind of poorly informed and not that interested in politics, but basically open to voting themselves some benefits at other people’s expense in a no-hard-feelings but-this-is-good-for me-and-mine way that I don’t take personally either. But really, why oh why are all those youngsters going again for the crazy Marxist dream? And why is the sensible Hispanic culinary union worker going for free everything? Fortunately, I just found...

The World Health Organization is sharing social media posts to debunk widely circulated rumors about coronavirus cures. Updated on Feb. 24 at 5:54 p.m. ET to include comments from Twitter and Facebook.The coronavirus outbreak has sparked what the World Health Organization is calling an "infodemic" — an overwhelming amount of information on social media and websites. Some of it's accurate. And some is downright untrue.The false statements range from a conspiracy theory that the virus is a man-made bioweapon to the claim that more than 100,000 have died from the disease (as of this week, the number of reported...

Over two decades and 2 million miles, Karl Williams has driven practically every diesel-powered truck brand on the road. Now behind the wheel of an electric-powered rig, he relishes keeping his place in stop-and-go traffic and misses neither the engine clatter nor the smell of diesel fuel Unless compelled, he won't be going back to diesel trucking. In about four months, NFI's fleet of nine electric day cabs has racked up about 50,000 miles. "I would have the space of two diesel trucks in front of me. By the time I get going, five cars jump in front of me,"...

In the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, America is coming to terms with a grim reality: thanks in large part to the federal government’s destructive, centrally planned healthcare initiatives, the healthcare industry is deteriorating rapidly. The system doesn’t have the resources to address the United States’ growing medical needs -- and nowhere is this more acutely felt than in rural America. A December Fox News report highlighted how fixing the rural healthcare crisis has become a top campaign issue for many states. Since 2005, over 160 rural hospitals have closed their doors, and no less than 430 more are...